Without formal announcement, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission has started replacing its traditional, embossed aluminum license plates — the kind that feature raised lettering — with digitally printed flat plates that are less likely to wither in the sun, rain and snow. At least that’s what agency officials believe.

NJMVC

The old aluminum embossed plates (top) compared to the new flat, digitally printed plates (bottom)

“While it’s premature to say our new flat plates are a cure-all, I can say they remove one fundamental cause of peeling and cracking,” offered MVC Chief Administrator Raymond Martinez in a carefully worded statement.

MICHAEL KARAS/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

License plate collector Jim Moini with some of his collection of New Jersey license plates at his home in Bergenfield.

For many years, faded, peeling plates have been a common complaint. Police, for example, claimed their shoddy condition impeded their ability to identify vehicles.

“From what I see, flat plates are a big improvement for law enforcement and E-ZPass collection,” said Tim Franco, the Fair Lawn cop who heads the New Jersey Police Traffic Officers Association. “Most people take license plates for granted, but they’re very important.”

Drivers had gripes, too — mostly about appearances, although some dug deeper.

“It’s not just about aesthetics; it’s about pride,” said Ridgewood motorist Tom Grilli. “Other states have much better-looking plates. It’s about time New Jersey improved ours.”

Unless they look carefully, plate-watchers won’t notice much change, however, mainly because the colors — black lettering on a pale yellow background — remain the same.

“But the lettering has rounded corners instead of square,” noted Bergenfield plate collector Jim Moini, whose extensive website — moini.net — has been following the subtle twists and turns of plate production for two decades. “The map of New Jersey is also a little bigger.”

For Martinez, who once headed the Department of Motor Vehicles in New York, the change involves much more than aesthetic nuance. In 2011, a year after taking the helm in New Jersey, he conducted an informal audit which concluded that one-fifth of the Garden State’s more than 6 million registered vehicles carried plates he deemed “degraded.”

“It’s one of my personal bugaboos,” he said at the time.

Under his watch, New Jersey becomes the 30th state to issue flat plates, which — like the current variety — are made of aluminum in addition to weather-resistant material. The big difference is their flat surface. Unlike the format used on the old plates, flat-plate lettering is not raised and embossed. “Embossed letters don’t fully adhere to metal,” explained chief MVC spokeswoman Elyse Coffey. Once exposed to the elements, Coffey added, the lettering can sometimes crack, peel and lose its reflectivity.

Other advantages include increased efficiency, she said, partly because plates can be made on demand in small batches that need not be warehoused. On-demand delivery is important for motorists who pay extra for personalized specialty plates, said Moini.

“Instead of several weeks, it should now take only a few key strokes to bang out a plate with your name on it,” he explained.

Per-unit flat-plate production costs are typically a bit higher than the old embossing method, but gas-fired ovens at the Bayside Correctional Facility, where inmates assemble the 3M products used in producing the plates, will no longer be needed. Inmate labor is still necessary, Coffey said, but reduced reliance on old machinery could mean cost reductions now under consideration in negotiations with the state Department of Corrections.

The cost to customers for standard licenses — $11 per pair — is not expected to rise, at least not yet. That would require an act of the Legislature.

Although the MVC hasn’t formally announced the change, its website — njmvc.gov — has alerted all police departments about the move. On April 1, the agency stopped stocking its offices with traditional embossed plates. Local agencies in Lodi, Oakland, North Bergen, Paterson, Randolph and Newark were among the first to exhaust their traditional supplies. They’re now issuing flat plates. The main Trenton office and 13 other local branches still have supplies of the old plates, Coffey said.

The change marks the latest in a long series of plate-production reforms that date back to 1903, when New Jersey began issuing numbers for cars. But supplying the plate — a 3-inch marker, often made of wood or leather — was the owner’s responsibility, Moini said. Owners apparently took pride in their role as license-plate stewards. A year later, when the state ordered the size of the number to be boosted to 4 inches, most owners voluntarily began adding “NJ” to them.

The age of tin license plates began in late 1907, when the state began issuing small, elliptical aluminum “validation tags” that included expiration dates. Other reforms followed, especially color changes — from orange and black to black and yellow. When Brendan Byrne was governor in the 1970s, he enlisted his children in a search for new colors. They settled on a bright combination that resembled California’s plates at the time — tan letters on a pale blue background.

This experiment lasted until 1992, when the current black-on-yellow combination took root, but some tan-on-blue plates remain on the road today. Reflectivity also was added to improve visibility, which paved the way for computerized police scanners that today allow cops to match plates to vehicle ownership records.

Another experiment wasn’t so successful. Tiny tags showing auto-registration expiration dates were meant to adhere to plates. But many tags didn’t stick, and police complained they were illegible.

New Jersey’s first flat-plate experiment began in 2010 when 3M technology was used to produce specialty plates, mainly to promote sports teams and honor Gold Star mothers.

Two years later, the state’s system of temporary plates for newly purchased cars also was reformed. Instead of attaching paper markers to rear windshields for 20 days until permanent plates were available, more durable black-and-white plates were affixed to a more traditional place — the bumper.

Such changes appear to be accelerating, but don’t expect flat-plate reform to take hold at warp speed. MVC officials made it clear that car owners with embossed plates are not required to switch to flat plates unless they become damaged or illegible. And although the law requires plates to be turned into the MVC when no longer in use, sentimental car owners and collectors tend to hang on to these markers. Moini, who has compiled an extensive collection since childhood, knows of an old Alaska plate worth tens of thousands of dollars.

So, like the old tan-on-blue Byrne plates that haven’t been produced since the 1990s, it will likely take at least a few more decades before we see the last vestige of the tin-plate era that began when Teddy Roosevelt occupied the White House.

Without formal announcement, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission has started replacing its traditional, embossed aluminum license plates — the kind that feature raised lettering — with digitally printed flat plates that are less likely to wither in the sun, rain and snow. At least that’s what agency officials believe.

The old aluminum embossed plates (top) compared to the new flat, digitally printed plates (bottom)

“While it’s premature to say our new flat plates are a cure-all, I can say they remove one fundamental cause of peeling and cracking,” offered MVC Chief Administrator Raymond Martinez in a carefully worded statement.

License plate collector Jim Moini with some of his collection of New Jersey license plates at his home in Bergenfield.

For many years, faded, peeling plates have been a common complaint. Police, for example, claimed their shoddy condition impeded their ability to identify vehicles.

“From what I see, flat plates are a big improvement for law enforcement and E-ZPass collection,” said Tim Franco, the Fair Lawn cop who heads the New Jersey Police Traffic Officers Association. “Most people take license plates for granted, but they’re very important.”

Drivers had gripes, too — mostly about appearances, although some dug deeper.

“It’s not just about aesthetics; it’s about pride,” said Ridgewood motorist Tom Grilli. “Other states have much better-looking plates. It’s about time New Jersey improved ours.”

Unless they look carefully, plate-watchers won’t notice much change, however, mainly because the colors — black lettering on a pale yellow background — remain the same.

“But the lettering has rounded corners instead of square,” noted Bergenfield plate collector Jim Moini, whose extensive website — moini.net — has been following the subtle twists and turns of plate production for two decades. “The map of New Jersey is also a little bigger.”

For Martinez, who once headed the Department of Motor Vehicles in New York, the change involves much more than aesthetic nuance. In 2011, a year after taking the helm in New Jersey, he conducted an informal audit which concluded that one-fifth of the Garden State’s more than 6 million registered vehicles carried plates he deemed “degraded.”

“It’s one of my personal bugaboos,” he said at the time.

Under his watch, New Jersey becomes the 30th state to issue flat plates, which — like the current variety — are made of aluminum in addition to weather-resistant material. The big difference is their flat surface. Unlike the format used on the old plates, flat-plate lettering is not raised and embossed. “Embossed letters don’t fully adhere to metal,” explained chief MVC spokeswoman Elyse Coffey. Once exposed to the elements, Coffey added, the lettering can sometimes crack, peel and lose its reflectivity.

Other advantages include increased efficiency, she said, partly because plates can be made on demand in small batches that need not be warehoused. On-demand delivery is important for motorists who pay extra for personalized specialty plates, said Moini.

“Instead of several weeks, it should now take only a few key strokes to bang out a plate with your name on it,” he explained.

Per-unit flat-plate production costs are typically a bit higher than the old embossing method, but gas-fired ovens at the Bayside Correctional Facility, where inmates assemble the 3M products used in producing the plates, will no longer be needed. Inmate labor is still necessary, Coffey said, but reduced reliance on old machinery could mean cost reductions now under consideration in negotiations with the state Department of Corrections.

The cost to customers for standard licenses — $11 per pair — is not expected to rise, at least not yet. That would require an act of the Legislature.

Although the MVC hasn’t formally announced the change, its website — njmvc.gov — has alerted all police departments about the move. On April 1, the agency stopped stocking its offices with traditional embossed plates. Local agencies in Lodi, Oakland, North Bergen, Paterson, Randolph and Newark were among the first to exhaust their traditional supplies. They’re now issuing flat plates. The main Trenton office and 13 other local branches still have supplies of the old plates, Coffey said.

The change marks the latest in a long series of plate-production reforms that date back to 1903, when New Jersey began issuing numbers for cars. But supplying the plate — a 3-inch marker, often made of wood or leather — was the owner’s responsibility, Moini said. Owners apparently took pride in their role as license-plate stewards. A year later, when the state ordered the size of the number to be boosted to 4 inches, most owners voluntarily began adding “NJ” to them.

The age of tin license plates began in late 1907, when the state began issuing small, elliptical aluminum “validation tags” that included expiration dates. Other reforms followed, especially color changes — from orange and black to black and yellow. When Brendan Byrne was governor in the 1970s, he enlisted his children in a search for new colors. They settled on a bright combination that resembled California’s plates at the time — tan letters on a pale blue background.

This experiment lasted until 1992, when the current black-on-yellow combination took root, but some tan-on-blue plates remain on the road today. Reflectivity also was added to improve visibility, which paved the way for computerized police scanners that today allow cops to match plates to vehicle ownership records.

Another experiment wasn’t so successful. Tiny tags showing auto-registration expiration dates were meant to adhere to plates. But many tags didn’t stick, and police complained they were illegible.

New Jersey’s first flat-plate experiment began in 2010 when 3M technology was used to produce specialty plates, mainly to promote sports teams and honor Gold Star mothers.

Two years later, the state’s system of temporary plates for newly purchased cars also was reformed. Instead of attaching paper markers to rear windshields for 20 days until permanent plates were available, more durable black-and-white plates were affixed to a more traditional place — the bumper.

Such changes appear to be accelerating, but don’t expect flat-plate reform to take hold at warp speed. MVC officials made it clear that car owners with embossed plates are not required to switch to flat plates unless they become damaged or illegible. And although the law requires plates to be turned into the MVC when no longer in use, sentimental car owners and collectors tend to hang on to these markers. Moini, who has compiled an extensive collection since childhood, knows of an old Alaska plate worth tens of thousands of dollars.

So, like the old tan-on-blue Byrne plates that haven’t been produced since the 1990s, it will likely take at least a few more decades before we see the last vestige of the tin-plate era that began when Teddy Roosevelt occupied the White House.